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The Joys of Storytelling
Storytelling magic
The art of storytelling is to engage listeners with
live and unscripted telling. It does not matter
whether it’s a folk tale, a personal anecdote or a
story from history – if the teller connects with the
listener, the message will get across.
into the rhythms and voice patterns and can hear
sounds from the story in their imagination. Like
many people, I experience different moments from
different
stories
through
different
sensory
channels. To enhance the experience of a story, I
often refer to different senses in the oral text as
well as provide stimuli for these senses through
Techniques and belief
In oral storytelling there are a number of
techniques which can be employed to get a story
across. Movement and gesture, voice modulation,
singing and choral chanting, percussion, props and
interaction with the listeners all play important
roles, but the key is getting the essence of the
story across as effectively as possible. When
asked by young listeners if the fairy story they
have just been told is true, some storytellers say ‘it
was true while I was telling it to you’. For me this
holds the key to effective storytelling – it has to do
with belief in the process on the part of the teller
and the listener, when both are giving their full
attention to the story as it unfolds.
Sensory and physical approach
One feature that I have consciously incorporated
movement,
gesture,
voice
modulation,
song,
music, percussion, touch and use of props or
costume. However, I tend to avoid using pictures
so that the listeners’ mental imagery is given full
creative freedom. There is a strong link between
language learning, emotion and mental imagery.
Sensory and physical techniques
find posture, expressions, mannerisms, voices
of characters.
use sensory effects: sound, movement, light,
colour, smell, etc.
use gesture and mime, especially for repeated
actions.
use a simple prop to engage students’ interest
or to add an element of surprise.
vary the volume, pitch and tempo of your voice.
into my storytelling is a multi-sensory approach. I
have become increasingly aware that individual
listeners experience stories in a rich variety of
Interaction, chants, rhythm, percussion and
song
different ways. Most listeners describe seeing I sometimes find that song is a key element in
mental pictures of scenes from the story either still stories I tell students. Indeed many traditional
or moving, either in brightly-coloured or colourless British and Irish folk songs are narrative stories.
tones, either in or out of focus. Others will feel There is just a small step from the heightened
close to the action of the story and identify speech we use when telling a story to chanting or
themselves in a deeply kinaesthetic way with the singing. Students are easily engaged by just a few
main character. More auditory learners will tune lines of song at the beginning, middle or end of a
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